


Time Skip Canary

by bernie_v2k



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 09:03:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8483437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bernie_v2k/pseuds/bernie_v2k
Summary: Sara finds herself inexplicably jumping to various points in time on the ship.





	

**Author's Note:**

> \- Takes place a week after 2x03 (but visits various moments from the series - see end notes for episode listings)  
> \- I don't own these characters  
> \- Not beta'd  
> \- I used the word "tachyon" like 17 times.

It was quiet on the Waverider with the engine purring as the ship coasted through the timestream. Mick was in the galley cleaning his gun, Amaya was in her room keeping to herself as usual, the professor was likely in Rip’s old study reading old Time Masters’ journals, and Ray, Jax, and Nate were probably in the engine room.

Meanwhile, Sara Lance sat cross-legged on the floor of the library with a game of solitaire to keep her company. Her eye barely caught the first silent flashes from the screen on the wall opposite her.

“ALERT”

It wasn’t until a high-pitched beeping screamed at her that prompted Sara to get up from her lonely game and limp to the screen with a cramp in her leg.

“Cram it, Gideon. I’m here.”

“My apologies, Ms. Lance,” the A.I. said as the beeping finally stopped, “there seems to be a detection of a temporal energy flux.”

Sara never cared for the time travel jargon even though she made a conscious effort to understand it more now that she was the captain of the ship. She admitted that she missed Rip for that. He was the only one who could have the back and forth banter with Gideon, followed by the inevitable translation for the laymen on the ship.

“It’s the Waverider. Isn’t the whole ship in a constant temporal energy flux?”

“Yes, but I’m detecting a high concentration in a specific location on the Waverider.” Gideon explained, taking a beat before clarifying. “You.”

Sara subconsciously looked down at her arms and chest, not expecting to see anything let alone feel anything as she began to dust herself off as though she just rolled on the beach.

“What the hell does that mean?” she demanded.

Before Sara could get an answer, she felt static start to lift her hair as prickles of electricity coursed through her limbs and in a blink of an eye, her surroundings had changed. She felt a little disoriented with her heart beating rapidly as she was confronted by a familiar sight.

“He is a thief and a murderer!” Amaya exclaimed on the other side of her glass cell of the brig. Sara stared back at her in shock. This all happened a week ago, she recalled. Somehow, Sara had been transported back in time, back to this moment when Amaya, Vixen, had stowed away on their ship seeking revenge for the death of Rex Tyler.

“What just happened?” Sara asked quietly to herself.

“‘What just happened?’ Rex is dead, that’s what happened! Rex is dead because of Mick!” Amaya’s anger was fighting her sorrow and Sara could not tell which was winning.

“I’m sorry, Amaya. I can’t deal with this right now,” Sara said to the bewildered Vixen. “Mick didn’t do it. I promise you that. Just-- just sit tight for now, okay?”

“What is wrong with you people?” Amaya asked exasperated as Sara ran out of the brig and headed toward the library.

“Gideon! I need your help!” Sara called out as the library screen once again flashed an alert and emitted the same high-pitched beeping.

“There seems to be a detection of a temporal…”

“I know! It's me! Make it stop!” Gideon was silent for a moment as Sara observed numbers and level bars bounce up and down on the screen, all of which meant absolutely nothing to the former assassin.

“I’m doing a deeper scan and have located hyperactive tachyons in your system,” Gideon revealed.

Rip once told Sara that the Waverider was not the only way to travel through time. He spoke of the Speed Force and how enhanced tachyon particles can allow a person to move faster than the speed of light. _See, Captain? I was paying attention_ , Sara thought.

The main thing now was how they got in her and more importantly how can she get rid of them.

“What can you do, Gideon?” Sara asked hopeful.

“There’s not much I can do without---” *BANG* “--- There seems to be a breach in the cargo bay.”

_Those idiots!_

Gideon put the ship into red alert before Sara could run to the cargo bay to witness, yet again, Nate and Ray fly out into the timestream to Feudal Japan. However, the same electricity overtook her and sent her away to another moment in time. The shaking and red alert from the breach was replaced with the calmness and steadiness of an idle Waverider.

Sara found herself this time on the bridge of the ship, facing Rip’s study.

“...We’ve been over this, Sara. What choice did we have?” Sara turned around with a snap to see Rip standing over the ship’s old console. The new helmsman control panel hadn’t been installed yet and the seats were still arranged in a semi-circle pattern. “Mr. Rory was, and always will be, a ticking time bomb. A danger to us and this mission.”

There was a comfort to seeing him in his stupid duster with his stupid grumpy face. Sara was shocked and relieved to see the old captain again.

“In the meantime,” he continued, “I’m plotting a course to 1958 Harmony Falls. We’ll take off as soon as Mr. Snart returns with the jump ship.”

Sara remembered being in favour of keeping Mick in the brig after the incident with the Time Pirates. She never trusted Snart when he said he’d “handle it” -- not because he was weak in anyway, but because his heart was bigger than he let on. She debated in her head about telling Rip that Snart won’t follow through with killing Mick; that Mick will become Chronos, but Rip had drilled it in their head the ramifications of changing their personal timelines.

So she had to keep her mouth shut and let Mick suffer for lifetimes.

“Sara?” Rip had noticed that Sara stopped arguing with him and even she would admit that was a rarity. “Everything okay?”

“Doubt it,” she answered honestly, pushing the thought of Mick’s fate out of her head for a moment. Rip stepped toward Sara with his usual concerned fatherly look on his face that Sara sometimes despised. _Sometimes_.

“Something is happening to me, Rip. I don’t know how to explain this but I’ve been here before.” Sara waited for Rip’s face to change but when it didn’t, Sara then just laid it out for him. “I’m from the future. And I need your help.”

Rip stared back at Sara in disbelief. Suddenly he rushed pass her with his coat whipping behind him. He began rummaging through his drawers and shelves before coming back to her with some scanning device that looked like it was pulled out of a Star Trek episode. He waved it in no particular pattern over her.

“It appears that your molecular structure has in fact advanced several months since I brought you on board.” _Thanks Rip, I just said I was from the future!_ “Remarkable. How are you able to jump into an event in which you’ve been present without time collapsing on itself?” he went on with more amusement than Sara cared for.

“Well, it _is_ something I’m very proud of,” Sara stated sarcastically. “Now can you help me or not?!”

Rip snapped out of his delight. “Yes, right. How did this happen? Tell me everything!” Sara recapped her last two time jumps for him, being sure to mention that Gideon discovered tachyons in her system.

“Tachyons? How did that happen?” Rip seemed to be more talking to himself than to Sara who simply shrugged her shoulders. “Did we encounter a Speedster, maybe?”

Sara took in a sharp breath at the sound of Rip saying “we” as though a year from now, he would still be with the team. She knew not to reveal too much about his future; even engaging him about her being from the future was risky but she needed his help. And if anyone knew how to use discretion in this situation, it was Rip.

Also, Sara knew they were tracking the actions of another time traveller, but she never considered it would be a Speedster. It certainly would explain the presence of tachyons.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “Maybe.”

Rip sighed then took Sara by the arm and pulled her toward the side wall of the bridge and removed a panel.

“What are you doing?” she asked as he began pulling cables out of the wall.

“I’m going to connect you to the temporal engine through here and siphon some of those tachyons out of you. Hopefully that will make you stop jumping through time.”

“Wait, will that trap me here or take me to my own time?” Sara’s reservations didn’t stop her from letting Rip thrust the ends of cables into her hand.

“No idea. Shall we?” But before Rip could proceed Sara once again felt her skin start to prickle. This time blue sparks started to pop where she held the cables.

“Rip, it’s happening again! Hurry!” She plead with him but they both knew it’d be too late and she’d be jumping to God knows when next.

“Sara! Come find me again! Where and whenever you travel, I will do everything I can to---“

Suddenly Rip, the bridge, and the cables were gone and Sara caught herself in mid-step, leaving her own quarters and feeling slightly winded. These weird little jumps through time was sapping her energy more and more.

“Damn it!”

“Oh, don’t stop now,” a familiar voice said from behind her. “That would’ve been quite the dramatic exit.” Sara turned around and found Leonard Snart lazily leaning up on the side of her bed with a smug look on his face despite the fact, as she recalled, she just rejected him after he revealed his feelings for her.

She also remembered this was a tricky time for the whole team as they were all about to go into battle against the Time Masters. Rip had told her to find him no matter when she landed but would _this_ Rip, who was so consumed with stopping the Time Masters, be willing to stop their mission to help her get back to her own time? She knew she couldn’t interrupt the timeline, even if it meant sending her back. She’d just have to wait for her next jump.

And she also could not stop the man in her room from dying tonight, as much as it pained her. So Sara considered her next move, considered the near future of Leonard Snart, and she decided to change one little thing.

Leonard straightened up when she walked back toward him. She remembered what he had said to her that night, a few minutes ago from his point of view, _It’s the things I didn’t do that keep me up at night_. She reached for his hand and found his pinky ring, tapping it lightly with her finger.

“Be careful tonight,” she whispered to him, her voice raw and soft. “And don’t do anything stupid.” She then pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips. It was gentle and chaste, not desperate and overwhelming like their last and only kiss. She felt him flinch a little but then his muscles relaxed at her touch.

It lingered longer than she intended.

She knew she couldn’t afford to get distracted right now. She knew that she could disappear at any moment, and God knows what she was leaving behind with every jump. But she also knew Leonard would die tonight and that their last kiss didn’t say everything she it wanted to say.

She pressed her lips harder against his, opening her mouth to invite him in. Her hands glided up his arms and shoulders and she found herself almost frantically pushing off his jacket. He finally pulled away.

“Sara…” he started, sighing out her name like it was his last breath.

“I’ll get the door, you take your clothes off,” she commanded but didn’t move until she knew how far he was willing to go with her.

And there was definitely some hesitation from him. His eyes were suspicious as first, as though at any moment she would pull the rug from underneath him. But when he discovered how much she wanted him, maybe even needed him, there was a fraction of a second where there was a little fear. It melted away when the corners of his mouth turned up into his patented smirk.

“Aye aye, captain.”

She rushed to the door, fighting the growing weakness she was experiencing from her time jumping. _The damn metal thing could not close fast enough_ , she thought. When she turned back to Leonard, his shirt was off and he was looking at her amused as he playfully pulled at his belt to remove it.

He was moving too damn slow as well.

Sara practically leapt at him and ripped the belt loose from his pants. She blindly reached for his fly as her mouth found his again. It was nice to finally savour him. She had thought of him from time to time, replayed their last kiss in her head and she lamented not sharing with him more often; not having her last spoken word to him be “No.” But admittedly, her thoughts were filled with the death of her sister, and she regrettably was forced to push Leonard Snart out of her mind.

Not tonight though, not it this small window of time she called a second chance. She guided him to the bed and he lifted her onto it and gently laid her down. In one smooth movement her shirt and bra were off. He took a moment to enjoy the view until his body was pressed against hers and they were kissing again. Sara let him explore every inch of her with his hands. She could tell he was one to take his time and pay close attention to every detail, which delighted and frustrated her at the same time.

 _No harm in this_ , she tried to convince herself as Leonard’s hand slipped into her pants and found her wet and wanton.

_Queen of France. Robber of ATMs. I’m the worst Time Master ever._

Sara closed her eyes and felt electricity again but she honestly couldn’t tell if it was the thief or the tachyons at work. Whatever it was, it made her cry out in ecstasy, unable to hold back unsavory curse words as a wave rippled through her.

“Fuck, yesss…!”

When she opened her eyes, she was fully clothed in her White Canary suit, surrounded by the whole team: Rip, Carter and Kendra, Martin and Jax, Ray, Mick, and of course Leonard who was wearing that silly old blue parka of his.

“Well, I think Sara is onboard,” Ray pointed out uncomfortably.

“And our malcontents?” Martin stuttered as he asked the pair of criminals, purposely sidestepping Sara’s unusual enthusiasm to the mission.

“I like killing people,” Mick replied.

“We’re in,” Snart cut in. “For now.”

“Tachyons!” Sara suddenly yelled, her cheeks reddened with embarrassment and the afterglow of an orgasm. And no surprise, this startled everyone standing around the ship’s console. “Sorry, what I meant was -- Rip, can I talk to you in private?”

“I’m just about to tell everyone where we’re going next…”

“Norway,” Sara interjected. “Can I talk to you in private… _now_ , please?”

The others went off on their own to wander the ship, much to Rip’s stress. She was met with raised eyebrows and odd looks from her future teammates as they passed her and she forcefully avoided eye contact with Leonard who didn’t know how much he’d get under her skin, and vice versa. It was weird seeing how everyone used to keep to their people back then. The only person she trusted back then was Ray and that was only because her sister and Oliver fought alongside him and that was enough of a seal of approval she needed. Now? She would put her life in any of their hands.

Once they were off the bridge, Sara took a step toward Rip but her knees buckled under her and she collapsed to the floor. Rip rushed over to her to help her up.

“Ms. Lance! Are you okay?” Sara gripped his shoulder for support.

“Please, Rip. You can call me Sara,” she managed to say through shortness of breath. “I think travelling like this is killing me.”

“Travelling like--- did you say ‘tachyons’?” Rip asked.

Sara sighed in despair at the thought of rehashing everything for him. “You can scan me to see how far into the future I’m from or that there are tachyons in me that are making me travel through time. Just-- just make it stop.”

Sara felt her limbs and eyelids go heavy but she fought to stay conscious. Rip wrapped his arms around her waist and she felt him drag her to the same wall from earlier where he tried to extract the particles before. Whatever he was doing, she felt a small surge of life bounce back into her, though not that much. She was finally able to open her eyes to look up at Rip.

“Why are you smiling?” Sara asked, though with no energy to actually discern if it amused her or annoyed her.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I guess I’m just happy to see in the future I managed to gain your trust enough for you to still be on the ship.”

Sara nodded with a soft laugh and held up her hand that was holding the exposed end of the ship’s cable. “Jury’s still out, Cap’n.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Better,” she claimed. “At least I’m able to--”

Suddenly there was a sharp jolt ripping through her body. She let out a loud scream as Rip yanked the cable out of her hand. It felt like the tachyon particles that were siphoned out of her were now rioting back into her. She felt another jump coming on.

“Hang on, Sara!” But once again, that was the last thing she heard Rip say before she jumped again.

This was getting old and Sara was feeling broken. This time, she found herself in the corridor just outside the cargo bay, but she couldn’t tell right away when she was. It was eerily quiet on the ship. She heard some movement coming from Mick’s room, like he was lifting weights.

 _It must be “night time” for us,_ she deduced.

Sara still felt weak but at least the surge of electricity that seemed to have jumpstarted her time jump was gone. She struggled to make her way to the bridge, each step feeling like she was walking on shards of glass through an electric storm. When she got to the bridge she saw the new console was in place and the helmsman control panel was blinking as Gideon auto-piloted the ship.

At least she could determine this was after they defeated Vandal Savage.

She heard a light snoring coming from Rip’s study and sure enough, there he was sleeping uncomfortably in his leather chair with his feet up on a pile of books. Sara never knew the man slept and she almost felt bad for waking him.

“Rip?” She gave him a soft nudge with what energy she had left. His eyes fluttered open and it was kind of refreshing to see him look rather childlike for once.

“Sara,” Rip’s eyes adjusted to the sight of her. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m so sick of jumping, Rip. Even sicker of having to explain what’s going on again.” Sara’s eyes welled and she could not stop herself from crying out of exhaustion and frustration. And if she was being honest with herself, one more jump would likely kill her.

“Jumping?” Rip asked with a yawn before a wave of realization washed over him. “Jumping! It’s happened again!” Rip hopped out of his chair and ran over to the bridge’s console firing up the ship’s comm.

“Attention, crew,” he started, “Code: ‘Time Skip Canary’ is in effect. We have approximately ten minutes before she jumps again. We’ll meet you in the med bay.” Rip then punctuated his message with a wink to Sara.

“Roger that, Rip,” Ray’s voice boomed throughout the ship. “I’ll prep the serum.”

Rip took Sara’s hand and led her to the med bay, though halfway there she had to rest her full weight on him to take her there. Professor Stein and Ray were waiting by one of the medical seats.

“You all know?” Sara asked in disbelief. She then turned to Rip. “I thought we weren’t supposed to say anything that would interfere with our personal timeline.”

“That was before anyone on this ship besides me could be trusted with that information. We’re all Time Masters now,” he explained. “However, because you were the one affected, we still had to keep you shielded from this information and ensure you jumped given you’ve already travelled multiple times into our collective past. It’d create a paradox.”

“This way, Miss Lance,” the professor said warmly as he gestured to the seat and helped her into it. He then proceeded to roll out a large mechanical box that looked like a generator hooked up to the ship’s computer and he attached her to it with a tube that was not unlike an IV.

“Alright, Jefferson. Mr. Rory. She is all hooked up and ready to go,” Stein said out loud. “How’s the jump ship looking?”

“All good here,” Jax said over the comm.

“Let’s get this over with,” Mick added with a grunt. “We’ve been planning this for months.”

“Planning what?” Sara asked.

“This serum will slow down the tachyons in your system long enough for us to extract them,” Ray explained as he injected her with it. “Then we’ll send them to the jump ship’s temporal engine where Jax and Mick will mix a ‘controlled Speed Force mocktail’ if you will.”

“Then,” Stein enthusiastically intervened, “we will re-introduce it into your body and it will simulate the speed required to rip through the space time continuum. We have one shot to send you where you belong and it should, in theory, flush out all tachyon particles out of you preventing you from further jumping.”

Sara was at a loss and almost overwhelmed with how simple(ish) it sounded. “How did you---?”

“It was Mick’s idea,” Ray said proudly. “It would appear during his time as Chronos, he had to hunt down a few time-travelling Speedsters and manipulating tachyons was the best way to do it.”

Sara began to feel the tachyons moving within her but, as Ray said, they were slowing down. The electrical popping that she was getting used to began to fizzle out inside her momentarily.

“Got them!” Jax exclaimed excitedly from the jump ship. “Do your thing, Mick!”

“Whatever…”

“Now Sara,” Rip brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes before taking her hand into his, “you must think of the exact moment this all started. If you go anywhere else…”

“Best case scenario, I’ll begin the loop again and be trapped jumping through time over and over until my timeline folds in on itself. Worst case? The Speed Force Time Wraiths will come after me and take me to ‘Time Hell.’” She smiled at Rip sharing a quiet moment with him as the others busted their ass to make sure this plan goes down. “Like you said, I’m a Time Master now. No saving Laurel or Snart.”

“Ready!” Mick yelled over the comm.

“You’re a stronger Time Master than I’ll ever be,” Rip said. “Okay, now remember, Sara. Focus on that moment…” She felt the powered up tachyons re-enter her, but this time it wasn’t the same chaotic crackling electricity that flickered through her at random. She felt control over it.

“Thank you, Rip. For everything,” Sara whispered back to him. “And I promise… we will find you, again.” A wave of confusion crossed his face leaving him speechless.

Just then an earnest voice cut through the air from across the room. “Good luck, Sara,” Sara looked over and saw Nate standing there with Amaya, hope plastered on their faces. _If they’re here with Rip then..._

“Spoilers, _Captain_ Lance,” Rip finally said, “you will find me eventually.”

Sara then closed her eyes and concentrated as she felt the Speed Force rush through her.

She was in the library playing solitaire. The ship was quiet. The ship was calm.

She was in the library playing solitaire. The ship was quiet. The ship was calm.

She was in the library playing solitaire. The ship was quiet. The ship was calm.

When she finally opened her eyes, she was in the library playing solitaire. The ship was quiet. The ship was calm.

“Gideon!” She called out.

“Yes, Ms. Lance?” the A.I. answered back.

“Can you do a scan of the ship? Look for a temporal energy flux or tachyons?” Sara waited patiently for Gideon to finish the scan.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Gideon replied. Finally, Sara was able to stand still.

It didn’t last long.

She began wandering the ship, truly appreciating it and all who made it what it was. She counted down the minutes to see if she’d jump again. She didn’t.

Sara eventually made her way to the galley where Mick sat cleaning his gun. He looked up at her and gave her a nod.

“Thanks,” Sara said softly.

“What for?” he asked as he went back to his gun. Sara pulled up the chair where he had a foot propped up on and sat down next to him.

“The thing you and the others are planning that you’re not allowed to tell me -- ‘Time Skip Canary’ -- it’ll work.” she answered with a smile.

“Ah, ha ha. Good to know.” Mick just chuckled. “I won’t tell the others though… keep them workin’.”

Sara probably should have went straight to her room and sleep for a week but instead she continued to watch Mick clean his gun. It seemed rather peaceful for both of them.

“Can I ask you something?” Sara broke the silence and surprisingly Mick was not annoyed. “What happened after each time I jumped?”

Without stopping what he was doing or looking up at her, Mick answered, “Rip mentioned he saw you at least twice. He said your face went blank for a couple of seconds and then you continued like nothing happen. No memory of any of it. Couldn’t explain it.” Sara remained quiet until something clicked with Mick making him finally stop what he was doing. “Oh… you jumped to the night you guys bumped uglies, didn’t you?”

“Oh God…”

“Ha! Snart said one minute you were walking away from him, the next you were on him, and then suddenly… BAM!” Mick mimicked a poorly formed karate chop. “You kicked him clean across the room.”

Sara shook her head in shame. Not exactly how she wanted to re-invent that night and given Snart’s history of expressing intimacy, it probably didn’t help. “I guess I can’t blame ‘past me’ for freaking out like that. Sorry, Leonard.”

“‘Sorry, Leonard’? You guys still had sex that night before we reached the Vanishing Point. We all heard it,” Mick snickered. His face went back to its usual grumpy scowl. “I take it that didn’t originally happen?”

“No.”

He considered it for a moment. “You could’ve saved him. Warned him.”

“No, I couldn’t,” she retorted soberly. “You’re like the closest thing to an actual Time Master with Rip gone. You know I couldn’t do that. So I did the next best selfish thing.” Mick shrugged his shoulders and resigned to the harsh truth that Snart was gone forever, and Sara had to do the same thing.

“You look like you could use a drink,” he finally said, getting up to the fridge before she could wholeheartedly agree. He popped the cap off the bottle for her and handled her the ice cold beer before sitting back down. She took a long pull from the bottle, letting it calm her nerves. “What now, boss?” he asked.

“Now?” Sara took a deep and confident breath. “We go find Rip.”

\--END--

**Author's Note:**

> First jump: 2x03 "Shogun"
> 
> Second jump: 1x07 "Marooned" while Snart is "killing" Mick 
> 
> Third jump: 1x15 "Destiny"
> 
> Fourth jump: end of 1x01 "Pilot part 1"
> 
> Fifth jump: future where the team had already found Rip and he's re-integrated into the team but not as captain (probably the pilot though)
> 
> Sixth jump: start of fic
> 
> \---
> 
> Fic fun facts:  
> \- This idea was intended as a short Captain Canary fluffy/smutty fic where Sara is able to jump to that moment in 1x15 in her bedroom with Snart. It sort of evolved into a solo Sara fic that strengthened her bond and trust with Rip and the whole team.  
> \- First draft was done as a teleplay script


End file.
